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It’s no secret that Canadians pay among the highest roaming fees in the world. Horror stories abound about travellers who have returned from ski trips or sunshine vacations to cellphone bills far out of whack.
According to the CRTC, Canadians spent about $800 million in international charges in 2013. Half of those fees were incurred in the U.S.

Brussels goes to battle this week over high costs for Europeans in using mobile phones across EU borders, with a new proposal slated to slash expensive roaming bills to almost zero by 2015.With many disgruntled vacationers each summer returning home to shock bills after calls or phone downloads during holidays in another European Union nation, the European Commission on Wednesday releases a plan for a single phone market.The aim is to narrow or eliminate altogether the difference between the cost of a domestic call and one made from another country in the 27-nation bloc.

Another financial institution entered the lucrative mobile payment fray Wednesday as Canada’s largest bank teamed up with Interac to demonstrate touch-free debit transactions for smartphones.
With a fast-payment-for-fast-food flourish, Royal Bank of Canada showed off its new Interac application at a McDonald’s restaurant in Toronto using BlackBerry smartphones.

The high cost of using smartphones and tablets across the European Union is set to be slashed under European Commission plans Wednesday to slash expensive roaming bills.In a season that often sees disgruntled users returning home from vacation only find shocking bills after calls and downloads in other EU nations, the European Commission announced a plan to extend price caps on roaming charges until 2016.It would also act to narrow the cost between domestic calls and those made across borders.